A Simple-Cycle Combustion Turbine (SCCT) is a type of

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

most frequently used in the power generation, aviation (

jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term ...

), and oil and gas industry (electricity generation and mechanical drives). The simple-cycle combustion turbine follows the

Brayton Cycle The Brayton cycle is a thermodynamic cycle that describes the operation of certain heat engines that have air or some other gas as their working fluid. The original Brayton engines used a piston compressor and piston expander, but modern gas tur ...

and differs from a

combined cycle A combined cycle power plant is an assembly of heat engines that work in tandem from the same source of heat, converting it into mechanical energy. On land, when used to make electricity the most common type is called a combined cycle gas turb ...

operation in that it has only one power cycle (i.e. no provision for

waste heat recovery A waste heat recovery unit (WHRU) is an energy recovery heat exchanger that transfers heat from process outputs at high temperature to another part of the process for some purpose, usually increased efficiency. The WHRU is a tool involved in cogen ...

Advantages

There are several advantages of an SCCT. The primary advantage of a SCCT is the high power generated to weight (or size) ratio, when compared to alternatives. Another advantage is the ability for it to quickly reach full power. Unlike other baseload power plants that may have a minimum time of being online once started. This "minimum up" is a common term in the power industry when referring to this requirement. Therefore, SCCTs are usually used as peaking power plants, which can operate from several hours per day to a couple of dozen hours per year, depending on the electricity demand and the generating capacity of the region. In areas with a shortage of base load and load following power plant capacity, a gas turbine power plant may regularly operate during most hours of the day and even into the evening. A typical large simple-cycle gas turbine may produce 100 to 300 megawatts of power and have 35–40% thermal efficiency. The most efficient turbines have reached 46% efficiency. For power generation applications, the investment costs are cheaper than combined cycle combustion turbine plants (in 2003, the

Energy Information Administration The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and publ ...

estimated that the cost of a combined cycle plant was US$500–550/kW, as opposed to the SCCT cost of US$389/kW), but at reduced efficiency. SCCTs require smaller capital investment than either coal or nuclear power plants and can be scaled to generate small or large amounts of power. Also, the actual construction process can take as little as several weeks to a few months, compared to years for base load power plants that require extensive plumbing and large waste heat dissipation systems.

Disadvantages

A simple cycle combustion turbine has a lower

thermal efficiency In thermodynamics, the thermal efficiency (\eta_) is a dimensionless performance measure of a device that uses thermal energy, such as an internal combustion engine, steam turbine, steam engine, boiler, furnace, refrigerator, ACs etc. For a he ...

than a combined cycle machine. Although, they may be less expensive to build simple cycle combustion turbines, due to their low efficiency, cost more to run than most other plants. This results in increased cost per kWh during peak electricity times. Since compared to other NG fuel using turbines, such Combined Cycle Turbines, the lack of efficiency causes the need to increase the amount of NG fuel consumed to produce the same amount of electricity.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D9qSDgTbRZoC&dq=%22Simple+cycle+combustion+turbine%22&pg=PA59 , title=Power Generation Technologies , author=Paul Breeze , publisher=

Newnes Newnes (), an abandoned oil shale mining site of the Wolgan Valley, is located in the Central Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The site that was operational in the early 20th century is now partly surrounded by Wollemi Nationa ...

, year=2005 , isbn=9780080480107 , page=59 Gas turbines